By Alex LawlerLONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices dropped from a four-week high on Monday as Hurricane Ida weakened after forcing precautionary shutdowns of U.S. Gulf oil production, and attention turned to an OPEC meeting on Wednesday to discuss a further output boost. Nearly all offshore Gulf oil production, or 1.74 million barrels per day, was suspended in advance of the storm. “Hurricane Ida will dictate oil’s near-term direction,” said Jeffrey Halley, senior market analyst at OANDA. OPEC+ meets on Wednesday to discuss a scheduled 400,000 bpd increase in its oil output, in what would be a further easing of the record output cuts made last year. Kuwait’s oil minister said on Sunday the increase could be reconsidered, although OPEC delegates have said they expect it to go ahead.

Source: MetroXpress August 30, 2021 01:00 UTC